Climbing in Door County, WI?

Does anyone have any experience and/or know of places to climb in Door County? Seems like there should be some places but I'm not finding any info on the web. Thanks for any help.

I'm pretty sure there is some limestone to be found up there. The Niagara Escarpment goes under the great lakes and makes an appearance in several Wisconsin locations, most notably High Cliff State Park.

Go explore and give us a report!

I've run a quick traverse across a few pieces of rock at Cave Point but there isn't much up there to be found. Most of my time in Door County is spent with a beer and a beach...Upon further reflection, you might be able to get away with it at Peninsula State Park in Fish Creek. The park has some large bluffs but I don't know about the legality of climbing there.

Rock Island

I have spent a majority of my life up on Washington Island and have also been rock climbing in Colorado. Lately I have had an interest in climbing on the bluffs of the island as well as Rock Island. Turns out, can't be done safely. There are great top rope opportunities around multiple trees, but the rock is frail. Limestone I think. Basically shelf rock coming out of the lake creating these bluffs. Looks great to climb until you get close. Sorry.

Teetering, very loose, and clearly unbalanced limestone/dolomite blocks stacked up and ready to cut loose and drill you. Be careful.
This rock is actually quite superb! Superbly unstable and un-suitable for rock climbing. No amount of cleaning or removal of the loose stuff will gurantee safe climbing (even on TR) or even good enjoyable climbing I think. This is an obvious reason this rock has not been utilized for rock climbing even in this rock starved mid-west.

I've done some long traverses in Pennisula State park to get a fix when camping with the family at the base of a tall cliff(Eagle point, I think its called?)and I would agree with the poor rock quality. Many loose blocks! Even staying low things tend to pull off. There are some old pitons on the cliff so at some point it has been climbed or at least attempted but it looks very sketchy...

I would think most of the stuff in Door County is going to be right off the lake and is probably going to be pretty loose limestone. I worked at Whitefish Dunes State Park for a summer and all the rock around there was choss - of course I wasn't rock climbing then like I am now that I am in Colorado - so it would probably look different. There are some top roping possibilities in High Cliff, but that's about 2 hours from Door County.

There are huge walls of 60-70' high smooth Dolamite just south of Egg Harbor along hiway G. Looks solid (unlike most rock in Door county) and eminently climbable. It goes on for more than a mile. I have no idea who owns it and if it is accessable.

Solid from the road or did you actually walk the cliff line? I have walked a lot of the cliffs in the peninsula and in the island chains and I have found very small pockets of climbable (and safe/fun) rock. Please report, I would love to know as all of my exploring has been from Fish Creek to the north.

I took a closer look a month ago at some of the rock at Peninsula STP and John is right. There are some brief spots that you could climb on within the park boundary where it is steep and somewhat clean. I saw some old pins as well in a few places like Terry mentioned before. Most of the rock I saw was pretty chossy though.

I'm not seeing the cliffs along Hwy G on Google Earth. Jeff, can you locate the area on a map?

Sure wish I had had the time to get up close and personal but I was pressed for time to get my 90 year old mother home! The cliffs are less than a half mile south of Egg Harbor just east of Horseshoe Bay Rd. a few hundred yards.

The houses you see (on GoogleEarth and similar)on Meadow Bluff Farm and Greening Bluff Roads are all in a line because they are all on the edge of the cliff.

Jeff I know where you’re talking about, horseshoe bay road (HWY G) along the alpine golf club. Idk if those cliffs continue but I’ll try and check it out this weekend, might be golf club property anyway. Family is buying a vacation house up here, there’s gotta be solid rock somewhere. Haven’t looked at eagle bluff in PSP but does anyone think there’s potential there, and might be worth a clean? Maybe Ellison bluff... Might go for a hike to check it out.

Taylor O'Callaghan wrote:

. Haven’t looked at eagle bluff in PSP but does anyone think there’s potential there, 

Yes, potential, and people have been on it before.  The last time i was there i saw some fixed pins up high on the wall.  There is a lot of choss, and a hiking trail that can be quite busy directly under the cliff.  If you were to throw a rope on the wall, please do it on a week day and on an off time of year.  The last thing that needs to happen is someone is hit by a rock while hiking, that was a major fear that always kept me away from that wall. 

Taylor O'Callaghan wrote:

Jeff I know where you’re talking about, horseshoe bay road (HWY G) along the alpine golf club. Idk if those cliffs continue but I’ll try and check it out this weekend, might be golf club property anyway. Family is buying a vacation house up here, there’s gotta be solid rock somewhere. Haven’t looked at eagle bluff in PSP but does anyone think there’s potential there, and might be worth a clean? Maybe Ellison bluff... Might go for a hike to check it out.

Taylor, was that you I saw at Cave Point two weekends ago?  Checking out bouldering lines above the water?

Success?

Jon, that’s my main worry also... I’ll hike it out this weekend for a look and if I see anything maybe toss a rope later into the fall on another trip. If anyone wants to hop on with me feel free to let me know haha

And no not me two weeks ago, although there’s some good potential. I haven’t climbed on those rocks since I was a kid, and it’s usually too busy in the main jumping area. Farther down the trail though is a whole different story, I’d be into that

Taylor O'Callaghan wrote:

Jon, that’s my main worry also... I’ll hike it out this weekend for a look and if I see anything maybe toss a rope later into the fall on another trip. If anyone wants to hop on with me feel free to let me know haha

Another good zone to check out is Door Bluff County Park. There are a few zones that I thought were worth some 1 or 2 star climbing...Not anywhere close to the height of Eagle Bluff, but you are all alone out there to trundle and clean as needed...

I was messing around at cave point doing traverses and some of the deep water solos this summer. There are 4-5 caves which have 10+ feet roofs with good holds and clean lines up and out of them. Most of the lines I tried would be V5+ with safe landings in the water. The potential for fun good climbing depends on the water levels, weather, and temperature